Pudding is one of my all time favourite comfort treats. I cannot tell you how many times I excitedly, and with great independence, whirred up one of those wretched jello pudding mixes as a child.  Once in a while, my mom and I would roll up our sleeves and make pudding from scratch, and oh my goodness, the difference was astounding. While my taste buds absolutely tolerated the chemically flavoured, overly sweet boxed stuff, the homemade pudding was an out of this world treat. 

And my favourite part? That wondrous (and, for some reason, loathed) pudding skin that forms while it's cooling. Maybe it's because homemade pudding was such a rare and delightful treat in my house, but I associate that skin with pure goodness. Like the crackling top of a perfectly baked tray of brownies. It just comes with the territory, with the love that made it. I embrace it, I adore it and I encourage it!

Now, this recipe is very reminiscent of a good old fashioned chocolate pudding recipe. I've simply adjusted some ingredients to suit the needs of my body. I've used coconut milk instead of milk, arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch and pure maple syrup instead of sugar. 

Unless it's the middle of summer and you're finding locally grown cobs of corn at your local farmers market, I generally recommend avoiding too much corn consumption. We've all got our weaknesses, though, and when my husband decides to make his famous-in-our-house soft shell tacos for dinner, I am all over those corn tortillas, there are simply no alternatives. We've got to pick and choose our inner diet battles. Corn starch, however, is easily substituted and arrowroot is a great option.

Arrowroot is a nutritionally dense starch that's high in B vitamins, many important minerals like copper, potassium and iron and it's high in fibre. It seems to be very well tolerated and easy on the digestive system. It's often considered an acceptable addition to paleo/autoimmune diets. It's a great substitute to both flour and cornstarch when thickening sauces and puddings. 

I've made this pudding with more, and sometimes less maple syrup (3/4 cup or 1/2 cup) and it worked perfectly fine with both amounts. It's all up to your taste. I always recommend going with the lower quantity first and upping the sweet flavour if you need it. At 1/2 cup, this recipe may not be as sweet as you'd like, so go ahead and play around.

I promise, though, with all my heart, that this pudding will absolutely resemble that out-of-this-world pudding from my childhood. Even with a few significant adjustments, it's thick, super silky, chocolatey and perfectly sweet.

Holy Mackerel Andy! Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding

Makes 6 servings

• 4 egg yolks 
• 4 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 2 cans full fat coconut milk divided
• 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
• 1/2 - 3/4 cups pure maple syrup 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla 

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the 4 yolks until kind of frothy and pale in colour, about 1 minute
2. Add the arrowroot powder and about 1 cup (1/2 can) of coconut milk, whisk until well combined. Set aside
3. In a heavy sauce pan, combine the remaining coconut milk (1 1/2 cans) with the cacao powder, maple syrup and sea salt. Whisk and heat over medium heat until it's just about to start bubbling
4. With a ladle, scoop out about 1 cup of the warm chocolate mixture and slowly whisk it into the egg mixture to temper the eggs
5. Slowly add the tempered egg mixture to the pot of warming chocolate coconut milk
6. Whisk to combine
7. Cook on med-low heat until bubbles just start to form, about 5-8 minutes, continuing to whisk
8. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla
9. Pour into small serving bowls (this recipe will fill 6 small ramekins)
10. Cover and pop into the fridge to cool completely (you can take measures to avoid the formation of pudding skin if you want to, but I don't support it, so I'm not going to tell you how).

Enjoy!